Search

Food Safety

Dietary supplement makers, facing a new FDA draft guidance requiring they notify the agency before marketing supplements with new dietary ingredients, might turn to the recently finalized voluntary generally recognized as safe notification process for food as a less onerous path to market, according to industry attorneys and a trade group CEO.

FDA released a long-awaited final rule officially replacing the voluntary generally recognized as safe affirmation petition process with a voluntary GRAS notification procedure for substances used in food, drawing strong protests from food and consumer safety stakeholders who say FDA is handing off responsibility to regulate the food supply to industry and leaving one advocacy group to explore legal options.

FDA clarifies when manufacturers or distributors of new dietary ingredients (NDI) must submit a premarket safety notification, in a reissued draft guidance replacing a contentious draft guidance first issued in 2011.

President Obama signed the controversial GMO labeling bill into law on Friday (July 29), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has already set up a working group to begin the rulemaking process, which it has two years to complete.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) said today he would reluctantly support the Senate bill to mandate labeling of genetically modified foods, and signaled the House would vote on the bill next week.

FDA and USDA are at odds over the scope of bipartisan compromise legislation aimed at instituting the first nationwide label for genetically modified food, which passed a Senate cloture vote late Wednesday (July 6).

The Senate on Wednesday (July 6) voted 65-32 to limit debate on a mandatory GMO labeling bill introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), but critics of the measure are working on amendments to close so-called loopholes in the bill.

House Energy & Commerce leaders are raising new concerns about FDA's ability to protect trade secrets and confidential information after federal officials in New York recently charged a political intelligence consultant and former FDA official with obtaining the status of a generic drug and illegally providing the information to a portfolio manager.

The HHS Office of Inspector General says FDA's food recall initiation process is inefficient, ineffective and compromises the safety of the nation's food supply, according to a preliminary report released Thursday (June 9).

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the major dietary supplement industry trade group, is urging FDA to remove dietary supplements from a proposed rule on fixed-combination products and co-packaged drugs, in comments sent to the agency.

FDA denied a citizen petition from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Wednesday (June 1) calling for stricter controls over salt levels in food, on the same day the agency released draft voluntary guidelines for industry to reduce sodium levels in food products and food served in restaurants.

FDA released draft voluntary guidelines Wednesday (June 1) for food manufacturers and national restaurant chains to voluntarily reduce sodium content in their products to help people bring down their daily sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) filed legislation in their respective chambers to create uniform date labels on food products in order to help clear up confusion among consumers and reduce food waste.

FDA moved forward with controversial updates to the food nutrition facts label, such as adding a declaration of grams and a percent daily value for “added sugars,” even though some industry stakeholders had argued the sugar labeling wasn't justified.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a wide-ranging report Tuesday (May 17) that among its many findings says there is no scientifically justifiable reason to mandate labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods although there might be societal reasons, as voluntary labeling doesn't benefit consumers.

The Senate Appropriations agriculture subcommittee cleared a spending bill Tuesday (May 17) that would provide $2.8 billion in discretionary funding for FDA, including a $40.2 million boost for food safety activities.